Oh, it’s so hard to change a habit, worse yet, if they revolve around food.
I get up to do inner work. I was just born this way, and as a consequence, I optimize and improve just about everything in my life. This usually involves either quitting something or acquiring a new habit. I deal with habits of exercise, thinking patterns, health, diet, the way I work, my productivity, to name a few.
Over the years of trial and error, these are my strategies:
- Wanting to change something isn’t the same as making a decision to change. Decide and accept the consequences of that decision. There are benefits and… cost. Agree to pay the cost (give up the comfort and pleasure of a chocolate croissant with coffee for long term health and longevity). This might sound silly, but it is a powerful reframing exercise for your mind.
- Write a due date in your diary or mark it on your virtual calendar – it helps with sticking to the plan.
- Your will power is strongest in the morning. Whatever your new endeavor is, start it early in the morning. Have a trick to stay committed to it later in the day. I get busy with something different to distract myself from my usual patterns. You probably guessed that the will power is the weakest in the evening. It is no surprise that most diets get broken in the evening.
- Set a goal, loud and clear, but put all of your energy into creating a process or system that will get you there. Break it up to small bites of activities that will lead you closer to your goal. I must recommend a great book by Scott Adams: “How to fail at almost everything and still win big.“
- Visualize your end result and not the struggle of getting to it. In fact when you are tempted to get back to your old habits or give in to cravings, tell yourself: “You are feeling this way because you are succeeding at “…fill in the blank (that’s a reframing strategy that I learned in Neuro-Linguistic Programming). You will power through it.
- Accept and embrace certain pain that comes with this process.
- Use positive self-talk; especially when you are on the day that your motivation is low or will power diminished. For example, you did it last five days, you can do it for one more day.
Working moms, changing habits isn’t an easy task, however, the alternatives are a lot worse.
